Leadership Dinner 2023 [Devo]
Leadership Dinner • Sermon • Submitted
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Thank You’s
Thank You’s
Vision
Vision
My goals for this year:
Establishing a new believers class
Cultivate biblical discipleship
Getting our Ushers and Greeters up and running
Focusing on our children’s ministry needs.
Exciting News: Kurt, Lord willing, will be starting a pathway this year towards becoming our associate pastor.
[Devo] 5 Points on Leadership
[Devo] 5 Points on Leadership
Matthew 20:26-28. Servanthood
26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
A servant was a hired worker who maintained the master’s household, and a slave was someone forced into service. These were two of the lowest positions in Jewish society, yet Jesus reverses their status in the community of disciples to indicate prominence and greatness.
Jesus himself is the primary example of servanthood. Jesus will give his life as a ransom (Gk. lutron, the price of release, often used of the money paid to release slaves) for many. “For” (Gk. anti) means “in place of” and signifies the notion of the exchange and substitution of Jesus’ life on the cross for all those who accept his payment for their sins (see notes on 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Pet. 3:18).
John 13:13-17. Serve others over self
13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
The disciples will understand fully only after the cross, though they do grasp in part Jesus’ amazing humility, which serves as a model for all of his disciples.
Foot washing continues as a regular ceremony in a number of modern denominations, which literally obey Jesus’ command, “you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Others believe the language is figurative for the importance of serving one another, and that the act itself is not required.
Acts 20:28. Leadership looks out for the flock
28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Pay careful attention to yourselves. Spiritual leaders need first of all to guard their own spiritual and moral purity. The last part of this phrase refers to the blood of Christ poured out in his atoning death on the cross (cf. Rom. 3:25; 5:9; Eph. 1:7; etc.). The reference to God in the first part of this phrase (“the church of God”) most likely is a reference to Christ as the head of the church and as “God the Son,” the second person of the Trinity. Alternatively, if God the Father is in view in the phrase “the church of God,” then “his own blood” is a reference to the blood of God’s “own,” that is, of “God’s own Son” (which would be a legitimate alternative reading of the Greek).
Proverbs 11:14. As counselors share the vision
14 Where there is no counsel, the people fall;
But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.
The role of counselors is to aid a person in making wise decisions (cf. Prov. 15:22; Prov. 24:6). While this is particularly important for those who lead a people, Proverbs also stresses its broader application to people’s decision making in all sorts of situations—cf. Proverbs 11:5 and the contrasting description of how the wicked falls “by his own wickedness.”
Philippians 2:3-4. Be a team player
3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
There is always a temptation to be like Paul’s opponents in Philippians 1:17 and operate in a spirit of selfish ambition, looking to advance one’s own agenda. Such conceit (lit., “vainglory”) is countered by counting others more significant than yourselves. Paul realizes that everyone naturally looks out for his or her own interests. The key is to take that same level of concern and apply it also to the interests of others. Such radical love is rare, so Paul proceeds to show its supreme reality in the life of Christ (Phil. 2:5–11).